This past week in our church Bible study, we were on the well-known parable of the workers in the vineyard. You know the one–where the landowner hired people at the start of the day for an agreed-upon amount. Then throughout the day, he goes back to the marketplace and hires more people. At the end of the day, he pays everyone, starting with the new arrivals. When he gives them the same amount he’d promised the earliest hires, those who had been working all day expect more–and get a bit irritated when they’re only given a denarius as well.

The landowner’s response is, “Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?”

The parables are often taught all on their own; and in this one, I’ve pretty much always read it as, “Those who repent in the last hour will receive salvation as surely as those who’ve been serving the Lord for a long time.” And I don’t think that view of it is wrong. 

But last weekend, as I looked back over the conversation this parable was a part of, something new struck me.

What came before? Well, first you have the rich young ruler asking what he needs to do to gain eternal life. Jesus tells him, “Obey the commandments.” 

To which he says, “Yep, I’ve done that. Am I missing anything?”

And Jesus says, “Well, if you want to be perfect, then sell all you have and follow me. If you do that, you’ll have treasures in heaven.”

We all know that story really well too, right? And we probably recall that Peter, after the young man has gone away, says, “Hey, we’ve given everything up to follow you! So what will we have?” (One has to assume he’s asking “what treasures in heaven.”)

And Jesus answers that they will have quite the positions of power and authority in heaven. That anyone who makes a sacrifice for His sake will receive a hundredfold, AND inherit eternal life. THEN he launches into the laborer-and-vineyard parable.

So here’s what struck me: the denarius is salvation, yes. Given to all who follow him into that vineyard. No matter when they joined Him. (Note, however, that this landowner did NOT go back to the marketplace at the end of the day and give out coins to everyone still waiting. You have to follow him in.) This is that “AND” part–they receive eternal life.

But Jesus repeatedly speaks of a hierarchy in heaven. Of those who lay up treasures there. Of those who will receive greater or lesser reward. 

And it occurs to me that in the vineyard parable, this might be about what happens the next day. Do those first laborers go off in a huff, grumbling because the lord wasn’t fair, according to their own definition? Do they figure, “Hey, I’ll just wait around until 5:00 tomorrow evening and then come in and get that denarius anyway”? 

Are they content to get just enough? Get that salvation by the skin of their teeth and put in no more work toward the vineyard, the kingdom, than necessary?

Or do they see the mercy of their lord and think, “Wow. If this guy has such a loving heart that he’ll grant the full wage to this dude…what will lie in store for me if I serve him faithfully for weeks and months and years?”

This, my friends, represents a key difference in the thought of us, His workers. Do we view what we do for Him as mere labor for a wage? Do we count the hours we put in and the reward we see at the end of the day and grumble and complain? Is it enough to simply have been given that salvation? Is it enough to know we’ll get into heaven? To get that final paycheck?

Or do we view it instead as heirs to that vineyard? In ancient society, the most faithful of servants were quite often given an inheritance along with the sons. This is what Jesus speaks of us receiving too, and which Paul expounds on even more. We are co-heirs with Christ. That means we’re not just laboring in that vineyard for a day’s wage. We are laboring because we want it to thrive. Because we want it to grow. Because we know that our futures are linked to it. We serve because we love our Lord, our Father, and want Him to look at our work and pronounce it good.

We do not earn salvation, other than by joining Him in His vineyard, by accepting and believing in the gift He offers–but there’s more to eternity than simply being there. There’s that hundredfold. There’s listening for and hearing His call, and then obeying it. There’s sacrifice. There’s giving up what the world says we should want in favor of what He says we need in order to attain perfection. There’s going into that vineyard every day, going above and beyond, not because we think we need to earn that denarius–but because we are invested in the vineyard and in the landowner.

I don’t want to be just a laborer. I don’t want to view this life that way–that I’m just toiling every day for a wage. 

I want to work for Him because of all He’s done for me. 

I want to sacrifice for Him because of how He has already sacrificed for me. 

I want Him to look at me and not see someone who will do the bare minimum to get salvation. I want Him to see someone He knows will come running when He has a task that needs attention. 

I want to be one of His trusted servants, faithful…an heir.